Earth anchor



L. D. KROFF EARTH ANCHOR Nov. 28, 1939.

Filed Aug. 22, 1938 Patented Nov. 28, 1939 J UNITED STATES 2,181,660 EARTH ANCHOR Leonard D. Kroff, Sterling, 111.

Application August 22,

1938, Serial No. 226,185:

14 Claims. (01. 189- 92) This invention relates to an improvement in earth anchors, and more particularly such as are used for the anchoring of telephone and telegraph poles at corner and cross sections of communication lines and also for the anchoring of guy wires and other cables in the earth.

The object of this invention is to improve the construction'of an earth anchor of this type to enable it to be set rigidly in anchoring position and when set, to securely anchor the desired part in place in the earth.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cantilever action for expanding the blades of the anchor, by connecting said blades through struts with a base, the struts being connected with the base on opposite sides of the center thereof and arranged in cross relation.

Provision is made also for rigidly connecting the blades together for pivotal motion by an interlocking connection between the inner edges of the blades through which the anchor rod extends for connection with the base.

I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, together with modifications thereof, in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the anchor;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof at right angles to Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view therethrough; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the anchor;

Fig. 5 is a similar view of an anchor having two sets of blades; and

Fig. 6 is a plan View of a modified form of hinge action between the blades.

The earth anchor constituting this invention comprises a base plate I, preferably made of sheet metal and having down turned opposite sides 2. Secured to the under side .of the base plate 1 is a bracket 3, riveted or otherwise fastened thereto and receiving a nut 4 between said bracket and the base plate. 1. The bracket 3 has an upturned side flange 5 on one side of the nut 4, as shown in Fig. 3, to prevent turning of said nut within the bracket. An anchor rod is designated generally by the numeral B, having a threaded lower end extending through the nut 4 with which it has screw-threaded engagement, while the upper end of the anchor rod 6 is shown as provided with a loop 1 to facilitate attachment to a'guy wire 8 or other cable adapted to be connected with the anchored device.

Blades are provided at 9, there-being two or more blades to the anchor shown in Figs. 1 to 4, although any desired number of blades may be used. Each of theblades is shownas formed of sheet metal provided with a rib or ribs in intermediate the width thereof for. stiffness. The inner end of each blade 9 is provided with a loop or other fastening l i, shown particularly in Figs. 1 and 3,.received within similarly shaped loops formed on opposite sides of a semi-oval clasp l2. The clasp I2 is also formed preferably of sheet metal and rolled generally to oval shape with a side thereof cut out and with loops receiving the loops II therein, so as to permit turning of the loops within said clasp l2 and forming a hinged support for'the blades 9, permitting the latter to swing from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the positionshown in Fig. 3. Theclasp [2 has an 7 opening 13 therein through which the anchor rod 6 extends and for sliding movement along said anchor rod.' Each of the blades 9 has anotch M in the inner edge thereof, adjacent the center to permit swinging action of the blade relative to the rod. 2

Rivete'd or otherwise attached to the under side of each anchor blade 9 is a bracket l5, having down-turned opposite ears l6. Struts or beams l! are pivoted to the down-turned ears Hi at i3 and extend therefrom to rods IS on which said struts are pivoted. The rods l9 extend from side to side of the base plate I and are mounted in the opposite sides 2 thereof, so as to pivotally connect the struts I] with said base plate. The rods l9 thus serve as tie rods to join pivotally the struts 30 I! ,to the base. Each tie rod I9 has its outer ends projecting from the sides 2 of the base sulficiently to underlie the struts ll of the other pair soas to limit the downward swinging movement thereof and of the respective blade during the extending of the latter, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. I

Each pair of struts or beams I! is pivoted to the base on a rod 19, off-set on one side'of the center of the anchor and extend therefromto the anchor blade 9 on the opposite side of the center of the anchor, so that these struts or beams I! are arranged in crossed relation when, the anchor blades are expanded, as shown in Fig. 3, and each pair of struts or beams is supported not only on its own pivot rod I9 at its lower end but also on the opposite pivot rod l9 upon which said pair of beams rest intermediate their ends, which thus constitutes generally a cantilever connection between each anchor blade and the base. Initially, the anchor blades are turned up to the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2, when they are introduced into the anchor hole, after which downward pressure on. the center of these anchor blades, or the hinge clasp l2 thereof will cause them to spread laterally to the positions shown in Figs. 3 and 4, thus engaging in the earth at opposite sides of the anchor hole and securely locking the anchor rod 6 in place therein. The clasp I2 may be tamped to force the blades 9 into anchoring position in the sides of the hole for firmly securing the anchor in place therein. The crossed relation of the struts I! give additional support to the blades beyond the hole area when the blades are extended.

The device shown in Fig. 5 utilizes a second pair of anchor blades 20 or additional numbers thereof, which are lowered over the anchor blades 9 and secured in place by a hinge clasp 2| which is made in two sections, divided at the center so that the sections may be slipped over opposite edges of the anchor blades 20 to the anchor rod 6, forming a hinge connection therebetween that may be tamped for expanding the anchor blades 2i! in the same manner as for the main blades 9.

Instead of hinging the anchor blades 9 together by the clasp i2, other forms of hinges may be provided, such as shown in Fig. 6. Anchor blades 22 are hinged together by a pintle, loop or loops, link or links 23 extending through backturned loops 24 formed by turning the inner ends of the blades 22 upward or downward. This provides for the use of extra blades where the soil makes necessary the use of extra top blades for greater ground resistance'such as in sand or in loose gravel.

I claim:

1. An earth anchor comprising a base, an anchor rod connected therewith, an anchor blade slidable on the rod for movement to retracted and extended positions, and a beam forming a connection between said blade and the base and having a pivoted joint arranged laterally of the blade beside the anchor rod with the axis thereof passing through said rod when the blade is in its retracted position.

2. An earth anchor comprising a base; an anchor rod connected therewith, an anchor blade slidably mounted on the rod for movement'to retracted and extended positions, and a strut pivotally connected with the opposite side of the base from the blade and extending therefrom to a pivotal connection with the latter, said pivotal connection being arranged with the axis thereof passing approximately through the rod when the blade is in its retracted position.

3. An earth anchor comprising a base, an anchor rod connected therewith, an anchor blade slidable on the rod for movement to retracted and extendedpositions, a beam pivotally connected at one end with the blade, means for pivotally connecting the opposite end of said beam with the base, and means carried by the base on the opposite side of the anchor rod from said pivotal means for supporting the beam intermediate said. pivotal connections when the blade is in an extended position.

4. An earth anchor comprising a base, an anchor rod connected therewith, a pair of anchor blades slidably connected with the rod for movement to retracted and. extended positions, a beam pivotally connected at one end with each blade respectively and pivotally connected at the opposite end thereof with the base, and means on the base on the opposite side of the anchor rod from said pivotal connection with the base and intermediate the pivotal end. connections of each beam when the blade thereof is in an extended position for supporting said intermediate portion of the beam and coacting with the pivotal connection thereof with the base to form a cantilever beam support for the blade thereof.

5. An earth anchor comprising a base, a pair of blades, means hinging said blades for pivotal movement and for sliding movement along the rod to retracted and extended positions, and strut connections between the blades and the base pivotally connected with the blades intermediate the length thereof, said pivotal connections being arranged with the axes thereof passing approximately through the center of the rod when the blades are in retracted positions and forming cantilever connections between the base and blades, the respective strut connections being pivotally connected with the base on the opposite sides of the center thereof from the corresponding blade.

6. An earth anchor comprising a base, a pair of anchor blades, means hinging said anchor blades together and for sliding movement along the anchor rod to retractedand extended positions, and crossed strut connections between the anchor blades and the base, each of said connections being pivoted with the corresponding blade intermediate the ends thereof and extending therefrom. to the opposite side of the base with a pivotal connection with the latter, said pivots with the blades being arranged with the axes thereof passing approximately through the center of the rod when the blades are in retracted positions and forming cantilever connections between the base and blades.

7. An earth anchor comprising a base, an anchor rod connected with the base and extending upwardly therefrom, a pair of anchor blades, means for hinging said anchor blades together and for sliding movement along the anchor rod, and a pair of struts connecting each of the anchor blades with the base being pivotally connected with the blades at opposite edge portions thereof and extending therefrom to the opposite side of the center of the base, said pairs of struts being arranged in crossed relation.

8. An earth anchor comprising a base having down-turned opposite sides, an anchor rod secured to the base and extending outwardly therefrom, a pair of anchor blades, means hinging said anchor blades together and for outward and downward sliding movement on the anchor rod, brackets secured to the blades and extending transversely thereof approximately to opposite sides, a pair of struts pivotally connected with the opposite ends of each bracket and extending therefrom to the opposite side of the base, and means pivotally connecting said struts with the sides of the base, said pairs of struts for the respective blades being arranged in crossed relation.

9. An earth anchor comprising a base plate having opposite side walls, a bracket secured to said plate, a nut interposed between the bracket and base plate and held in place thereby, an anchor rod having screw-threaded connection with said nut for securing the same to the base plate, a pair of anchor blades, means for hinging adjacent ends of said anchor blades together and for sliding movement along the anchor rod, a bracket extending transversely of each of the anchor blades and rigidly secured thereto, said bracket having angular ears, and struts arranged in crossed relation at the opposite sides of the anchor and pivotally connected respectively to the sides of the base plate and to the ears of the brackets, the connections with the sides of the base plate being on the opposite side of the axis of the rod from the connections with the bracket ears.

10. In an earth anchor, an anchor rod, a pair of anchor blades on opposite sides of the rod having back-turned loops extending through approximately 180", and a clasp having inturned loops extending through approximately 180 and embracing and interlocking with the loops of the blades and forming an interlocking hinged connection therewith.

11. In an earth anchor, the combination of a base, an anchor rod connected with the base and extending outwardly therefrom, a pair of anchor blades having back-turned loops extending through approximately 180, and a clasp member extending transversely of the blades and having inturned loops at opposite sides thereof extending through approximately 180 and embracing and interlocking with the back-turned loops of the blades and forming an interlocking hinge connection therewith.

12. In an earth anchor, the combination of an anchor support, a pair of anchor blades on 0pposite sides of the support, each of saidblades having a back-turned loop elongated approximately in a straight line transversely of the blade, and a clasp having inturned loops constructed for longitudinal sliding movement over the loops into embracing engagement therewith forming a hinged connection therebetween.

13. An earth anchor comprising a base, an anchor rod connected with the base and extending upwardly therefrom, a pair of anchor blades, means for hinging said. anchor blades together and for sliding movement along the anchor rod to retracted and extended positions, a pair of struts having the upper end portions thereof pivotally connected with the blades and extending downwardly therefrom in crossed relation when the blades are extended, and tie rods pivotally connecting the lower end portions of the struts with the base, each tie rod having an extended portion underlying the other crossed strut in position to be engaged thereby to limit the swinging movement thereof and of the respective blade.

14. An earth anchor comprising a base, an anchor rod connected With the base and extending upwardly therefrom, a pair of anchor blades, means for hinging said anchor blades together and for sliding movement along the anchor rod to retracted and extended positions, pairs of struts for the respective anchor blades, each pair having the upper end portions thereof pivotally connected with the blades and extending downwardly therefrom to the opposite side of the base 

